Portable vacuum-cleaner.



G. P. BARRETT. PORTABLE VACUUM CLEANER. APPLICATION FILED r23. 10,199.9.

Patented Aug- 3, 1909.

BBHEETB-BHHET 1.

I WITNESSES Q I 7 lNVE/VTOI? 0. I. BARRETT.

T PORTABLE VACUUM CLEANER.

APPLIOATIOI TILED FEB. 10, 1909.

930,125. Patented Aug. 3, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

. v A 1 I 4. "7

ATTORNEY To all whom it may concer'n:

CnAsLEs F. sasns'r'nor BR'IDGEPCRT; CONNECTICUT.

resins-Ln vscuim onnsnnn.

Specification of Letters Patent.

" Patented Aug. s, 1909.

a n ationai drebme'r 10,1909, Serial no. 177,090; V 3

B i known that 1, CHARLES F. simmer, a citizen of the United States,residingat Bridgeport, in the county of- Fairfield and State ofConnecticut, have'inven'ted certain I new 1 and use'ful Improvements; inPortable Vacuum-Cleaners; and I do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description ofthe invention, suchlas will enable.which" it appere Etains to make and-use the same. l

others skilled in the artto My invention relates to vacuum cleaners,suchas' are used for removing dust and other foreign substances from'carpets, rugs, 'furni-' ture, and the like,-., buttmorearticularly hasreference to ri'utc hine s of }t is description which may be readilymoved about and di-* rected by the hands; of the operator and whichtherefore'may be classed as portable vacuum cleaners. V a w Theobject-of my improvement is .to provide a simplemachine of this nature,economical as to cost and readily operated. With these ends in'view' myinvention con-; sists in the construction .and arrangement ofpartshereinafter fullydescribed and then particularly pointed out in theclaims which air-Eig. 4 a section at the line x, :12, of- Fig. 3, andFig. 5 adetail-bottom view of the nozzle,

parts in the several figures of the" drawing.

conclude this description.

In theaccompanying drawing Figure is aside elevation of myimprovementFig. 2a

Plan view-r Fig. 3 a detail sectional elevation of the chamber forseparating the .dust and Similar numeralsof reference denote like Inmachines of this description an air pump is employed for creating. asuction through the net removing pipe and nozzle, whereby the dust orother foreign substance is abstracted from carpets, rugs, furniture andthe like, and drawn within a chamber:

where the dust &c., is separated l IOIII the air, the dust orptherrefuse falling by gravity to.

the bottom of said chamben while the air, after purificatiohpis drawninto the pump and then discharged through-suitable valves into theatmosphere.

My improvement has nothing to do with the pump itself since I can useany ordinary suctlon 1pump, and therefore I have not illustrated t einternal construction of the pump but have merely shown the, handoperating lever connected to the piston of a pump so that when saidlever is operated, the piston will be reciprocated to create anairsuction.

My machine is directed all over a'room, 2

and simultaneously operated by direct and positive instrumentalities, bya single person,

the dust removing nozzle bein at all times in'o eration, all of whichwill e clear from the ollowing description.

-;1 is a-platform or truck provided with .oppositely disposed casters 2,3, and 4is a suction pipe supported on said truck and having anextension 5 at the free end of whichlatter is a nozzle Shaving anextension 7. At the bottoms of this'nozzle 6 and section 7 arecoincidingelongated slots 8, 9, which constitute'the mouth of thenozzle, the object of the telescoping feature being to enable the slotof-the nozzle to be contracted more or lessthereb intensifying thesuction to a greater or esserdegree, as may be desired,

all of which will be more clearly understood by the descriptionhereafter to follow. This nozzle is deflected downwardly from the laneof the section 5 so as to be on the same orizontal lane with the treadof the casters 2, 3, and t erefore it will be clearly understood thatthe truck 1 has three points of support, namely the casters and thenozzle. 10 is any suitable vacuum creating pump supported on the truckin any ordinary man ner and provided. with an actuating, piston to anysuitable block 13 rising from the truck and o eratively connected to thepiston 11, where y outwardly and inwardly swinging motions of said leverwill actuate the iston ando erate the pump. I prefer to ma e the hand e14 ofthis lever separate from the latter and to secure them together bymeans ot a set screw 15 so that their angular (llSPOSl-"tionwith'respect to each other may be changed to suit the convenienceofthe o 'erator, but of course the lever and ban e ,may be made'mtegralif desired.

16 is the separating chamber where the air is freed from the particlesof dust or other fore matter, which chamber rests by its gravity uponthe truck-1. 17 is the cover of this chamber,v which cover is preferablydome shaped so as to provide a space 18 within the same. I

1 9, 20, are nipples communicating respectively with the cover 17 andpump 10, and 21 is a rubber hose or other flexible tube connecting saidnipples, so that it will be clearl understood that said nipples and hoseorm a continuous connection between said pump and cover.

11, and 12 is a lever hinged at its lower end 22 is a metal framesuitably secured to the truck 1 and extending immediately above thecover 17 and to this frame is pivoted a cam lever 23 which is. operateddirectly against the nip le 19 so as to bind the cover 17 tightly to tiechamber 16 and thereby hold the latter in position upon the truck;

1 24 is a handle which is secured to the 3 frame 22 preferably by meansof a set screw 25 so that said handle may have an angular adjustment tosuit the operator.

- the mouth or lower part of this ring 28 is dle 30 any suitableperforate material which, in the drawing, is ilustrated in the form of arid- 31 are screens one above the other, the frames 32 of whichscreensare supported by the flange 27 and closely fit against the inner wall ofthe chamber 16. l/Vithin' the ring 28 and between the riddle 30 and thelowermost screen 31, are preferably laced pieces of cloth, waste,orother suita lematerial (not shown) and within the dome-like cover 17is preferably placed any suitable de-odorizing or disinfecting material(not shown);

33 is a nip le suitably secured to the outside of the c amber 16 and,terminating at its inner end in a nozzle 34 which extends Within thechamber 16 substantially tangential to the outer erimeter of the ringand directed immediate y beneath the flange 27 toward the blades '26. 35is likewise a nipple secured within one end of a suitable union 36, thesuction ipe 4 being secured within the other end of said union.

37 is a flexible hose secured to the hi ples 33, 35, so asto connect thesame, whereby it will be clearly understood that a continuous passa ewill be provided from the nozzle 6 into t e separating chamber andthence out through the cover thereof into the pump.

The operation of my improvement is as follows :In the first place, theoperator adj11sts the handles 14,24, to suit his convenience, and then,utilizing the rigid handle 24, hepropels the cleaner in any desireddirection, and this is rendered very simple by reason of the fact that Ihave roviided three points of support, two of whic 1 are the castersabove noted while the third is the nozzle itself, and this arrangement Ibelieve to be entirely novel and it contributes greatly to the ease andpracticability with which my improvement .may be managed by a singleperson. As the o erator propels the device he simultaneous y swings thecrampe handle 14 inwardly and outwardly thereby operating the pum v rThe device may e tilted or lifted at either end in order to pass overobstructions, and in order to conveniently operate beneath heavyarticles of furniture the telescoping section 5 within the pipe 4 may beextended more or less, as may be desired, and also the nozzle itself maybe contracted .or extended as above set forth, in order to intensify orweaken the suction produced by the pump.

As the air laden with dust and other for-' eign particles is sucked bythe action of the pump through the passage formed by the pipe 4, union36, nipples 33, 35, and hose 37, it will be driven Within the annularspace between the chamber '16 and ring 28 against the blades 26 and awhirling action will thus be imparted to the air and dirt. The greaterpart of the dirt or other foreign material being arrested in its s eed,owing to impingement against said b ades, will become pockmains in theair, will be deposited upon thev Waste, cloth or other materialcontained within the ring, and the continued passage of the air throughthe series of screens 31 will com letely free it from foreign matter,while the eodorizing ordisinfecting agents within the cover will relievethe air of any bad charged into the atmosphere under the most sanitaryconditions Of course it will be understood that the presence ofdeodorizing or disinfecting agents is not essential to the successfuloperation of my improvement, and it will llkewise be clear that I canutilize any desired number of screens 31 and thus do away with theadvisability of utilizing anydust catching material Within the ring 28.v

By throwing up the cam lever 23 and removing the flexible connections21, 37, the separating chamber 16 may be removed from the truck so thatthe dirt and dust therein may be dumpedand'the screens and other dustcatching material thoroughly cleaned. In operating my im rovementwithin.

places the hand es 14, 24, may be adjusted to a vertical position ortosuch other position as may be found necessary, or such handles may befolded forwardly, as is shown in the instance of the handle 14 at Fig.3, this folded position of the handles be mg very convement when theapparatus 105 i odors and will purify it so that it will be disrest thecurrent of dust laden air, and therefore any suitable appliances of thisdescription may be employed, or, these blades may be fastened directlyto thering itself and the latter would be secured in any suitable mannerwithin thewhamber, since it is merely necessary that the blades or otherbaflle plate devices shall be located in the s ace between this ringand-the wall oi t e dust erierating chamber, avingthus described myinvention what I claim 'as new and desire to secure by Letters Patentis:-

1. A portable vacuum cleaner, comprising a truck, a pum and dust chambercarried'by said truck, a pipe connectingsaid pump and chamber, a suct10npipe carried by said truck jand'leading into said dust chamber, asuction nozzle connected to the free endof said pipe, and two handlescarried by said truck and said pump one of which handles is rigid withthe truck while the other is operatively connected with the pump.

2. A portable vacuum cleaner, comprising a a truck supported near itsrear end by oppositely dis osed casters, a pump and dust separating camber carried by said truck, a pipe which connects said pum and chamber,a suction pipe carried by said truck and leading into said chamber,a-suction nozzle con nected to the free end of said pipe and dependingbelow the plane of the truck and constituting the forward support of thelatter, and suitable handles carried by said truck and said pump wherebythe truck may be' i'propelled and the pum operated.

3. A ortable vacuum 0 eaner, comprising the truc l; having three pointsof support two of which are casters beneath opposite sides of the rearportion of the truck while the third is the vacuum suction nozzle itselfbeyond the forward portion of the truck, a ump and a dust separatingchamber carried by said truck, tubular connections between said nozzle,chamber and ump, and the two handles one of which is rlgid with thetruck while the other is operatively connected with said pum I,

In testlmony whereof I 'affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

OHARLES F. BARRETT. Witnesses:

F. W. SMITH, Jr., M. T. LONGDEN.

